From the email:
This statue has been in our friends family since the mid 1800’s. The story is that his 3x’s great grandfather was on a boat somewhere in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean. He got drunk with a bunch of guys, snuck into a village and stole their God. He sailed back home and got sick along the way. He shot the statue thinking it cursed him, and got better. This carved, shot statue has been on a shelf facing east ever since. Do you know where it may have come from?
Looking for information to fill in the story. They call him “Joe”. If he doesn’t face east, the family has extremely bad luck.
We found your article online with similar statues that said they were at the “Museum of man.” We called the museum (Which do to social and P.C. Pressure, has changed their name to “The Museum of US”) and due to “Decolonization” and “Reduction of white privileged” they gave those statues back to the Philippines. Can you help us figure out if “Joe” is a statue like the ones you blogged about?
Thank you for any help,
Mike
I responded to Mike also sending him the links to old articles I have published in this blog including a link to Curt Shepard's webpage on the Alfred Marche explorations that the French explorer did on the island of Marinduque from April to July 1881.
This also gave me a reason to place facing East a replica of the anito I am keeping for good luck. We have used it for theatrical presentations on Marinduque's ancient history in the past.
I am not aware, however of any of such statue that ended up in the Museum of Man (Oceania) collection having been returned to the Philippines for any reason.
Also read:
Ano ang mga laman ng ilang kuweba sa Marinduque at nakatago pa kaya?
